Site & Preceptor Requirements

Site Requirements

Experiential sites are expected to possess the following:

  • Support from site owners and administration for providing pharmacy education to students.
  • Patient-centered care experiences which have the ability to meet UF COP educational outcomes.
  • Adequate staff for delivery of patient-centered care and coordination of student teaching.
  • Sufficient number and variety of patients to provide a rich learning environment as applicable to the experience.
  • Integration of pharmacists in the interprofessional care of patients, as applicable to the experience.
  • Opportunities for students to learn specific disease therapy management and provider-patient communication skills.
  • Opportunities to model and demonstrate professional and ethical behavior.
  • Informatics, library, and learning resources to support patient-centered care and student education.
  • Compliance with all HIPAA requirements, all OSHA, applicable health care accreditation standards; state, and federal laws.
  • Ability to balance the provision of student learning opportunities with assignment of technician responsibilities and/or rudimentary pharmacist tasks.

Note: A preceptor and site’s abilities to meet these criteria are assessed through site visit meetings, phone conversations, and other communications with UF College of Pharmacy Experiential Education faculty.


Preceptor Expectations

Preceptors are expected to serve as role models and function as effective, organized, and enthusiastic teachers to assist the student in achieving the learning objectives. Preceptors will embody a practice philosophy of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process; teach by example; model excellent interpersonal communication skills; demonstrate professional leadership with students, pharmacists, and staff; and be able to mentor, coach, and encourage individuals toward self-directed learning.

Preceptors are expected to deliver a well-structured, rigorous pharmacy practice experience by:

  • Developing a practice experience, which includes written activities and objectives; coordination of activities and pharmacy input with assigned physician or pharmacist supervisors; and integration of PharmD students into the ongoing educational activities of the site, including but not limited to, journal club, discussion of pertinent disease states, therapeutic controversies, and designated review of contemporary primary and/or secondary literature.
  • Supervising and encouraging development of written and verbal recommendations made by the PharmD student.
  • Allowing sufficient time to organize each student’s experience, spending one-on-one time with the student assessing and communicating progress, identifying areas for development, and providing constructive and encouraging feedback. The preceptor should clarify joint experiential goals and expectations with the student at the start of the experience.
  • Interacting with the student at least three times per week for time intervals sufficient for patient care discussion and teaching. Preceptors should be available to the student for questions or concerns taking patient care into consideration.
  • Providing and discussing with the student a written midpoint evaluation, identifying areas for focus in the second portion of the rotation, and a joint final evaluation of the student’s performance.
  • Monitoring quality of professional practice and teaching activities and implement changes as able to continually improve practice and teaching based on student and office feedback. Each preceptor should have a written/documented plan for their own preceptor development.
  • Communicating with other preceptors and experiential program faculty at regular intervals to exchange teaching experiences and discuss, design, and implement ways to improve the learning experiences of students.
  • Actively pursue professional development of teaching skills, including making efforts to attend and participate in live or web-based preceptor development opportunities.

Preceptors are expected to meet the professional standards as defined by the preceptor criteria for the rotation types below: